SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey told ESPN that he will be watching the other Power 5 conferences “with interest” over their upcoming decisions about football this fall, but his focus is on his own conference.
“We believe we have a responsible plan in place,” he said Tuesday. “We have delayed our kickoff to Sept. 26, which is more than three weeks after all our universities will open for classes. Our responsibility is to ensure that our campuses can open in the best way possible, and it was a wise decided to slow down the start of the season, and we adjusted the practice of the preseason and did so in a way I do not think anyone else has.
“We have people in pads and helmets at this point. We have been on a slow build since June 8, and I think this has been very responsible and is at the heart of supporting the health of our student-athletes in the right way.That decision making is and will remain our focus.
“The decisions of others are information points for us,” he said, “but not decisive for us.”
Sankey said SEC presidents met Monday for an “information meeting” and that the league will remain in the same spot as it was Friday. When asked if the presidents would meet again Thursday, he said, “We will take care of ourselves every day at this time.”
The ignorance of the coronavirus’ lasting effect on the heart has become a critical sticking point for some university presidents and athletic officials. Sankey told ESPN that when problems arose, the SEC sought input to address and address those issues.
“We will do that with all the circumstances surrounding COVID-19,” he said. “… Everyone will provide the right kind of care and we will seek full explanations – full explanations – of what is happening in the context of the health problems associated with COVID.”
As for the possibility of teams attending conferences for a season if their leagues decide not to play this fall, Sankey said he had not given it much thought, but added, “I do not understand that as a reality.”
In another interview Tuesday with “Good Morning America,” Sankey said he believes the SEC has created a “healthy environment” with its bubbles on campus.
“You have to remember that our student-athletes are really in their own bubble on our campuses,” he told Good Morning America. “We have athletic programs with embedded health care professionals. We as a conference in each of our universities have taken the virus seriously from the beginning, and the similarity is that we just have to let people into the society where we don’t know if they have COVID or not?
“We have been involved in testing and care and are continuously involved in following local health policies, and I think that has provided a healthy environment.”
Sankey also appeared on the “Dan Patrick Show” on Tuesday and discussed the possibility that the SEC will be the only major conference to play football this fall.
“I don’t think it’s the right direction, really,” he said. “Could we? Sure. There’s a difference between being able to do something and having to do something in life.
“We actually set up our schedule with our own health protocols; we could, if that was the case, operate on our own. I’m not sure that’s the right direction.”
Sankey said the SEC’s medical advisory group remains comfortable with the security of current workout plans for summer.
“If that advice was to change, it would certainly be a stopping point,” he said. “The indicators are that we can now do what we do in a healthy way.”
Asked what he would tell fellow football fans that the season is on the verge of collapse, Sankey first pointed out the steps each fan can take to slow down the spread of COVID-19 through face covering to carry and exercise social distance.
“I keep in mind that we have not made any definite, definitive decisions – there is still some time left – but we have set a start date,” Sankey said. “I would be encouraged by that if I am a college football fan. We have announced opponents. I would be encouraged by that. We have some guidelines for medical care. That is encouraging. We are still [here] today. Sunday it was all over when I read social media, but we’re still here. “
ESPN’s Mark Schlabach contributed to this report.
.
